UTSA Postgame Thread

[donalddoowop]

Pretty harsh but I do agree, watching Serah is difficult at times. She just makes things so
Much more complicated than they need to be.

Serah started out scoring and then was taken out. Maybe that affected her play after she came back in. Jana did not play long enough to make a difference.

 

[donalddoowop]

UCONN would probably employ the same strategy. Let Crooks score 20+ points while stifling the rest of her team. And the Huskies would score at will against a slower Iowa State team.

UConn blew Iowa State off the court last season and Crooks did not hurt them.

 

[Soxx]

Agree. Lost points that are free and uncontested can be a bad reason for losing. Hope they get it together. Also a dependable third shooter is necessary. Last year's team had Paige, Azzi, & Sarah, with a little help from KC at the point. This year we have Azzi & Sarah. Allie is excellent shooter but passive on defense. Good teams will do everything to take away Sarah & Azzi. Somebody will have to step up to relieve double/triple teams.

I would not agree that Allie is “passive” on defense. She is a step slower than our best defenders, but she’s always in a defensive stance, focused on her “man”— her biggest issue is when a quicker player drives on her. She can be beat . . .

 

[Woof]

We don't look as sharp as the other 1 seeds. Did South Carolina not play their bench at all? Should we still be playing players that won't be seeing the floor in the final four? Blanca and Serah could both use as many minutes as possible to continue to get comfortable with their team. Blanca missed a lot of time and Serah spent a lot of time on the bench this year. They could use as many minutes as possible at this point.

 

[husky98]

Did you read both of my posts?

yes + went back and reread, and stand by what i said. i feel that phrasing is a little strong if we both agree the foot was off the pedal on purpose. unless you have money on the game who cares?

 

[jaydee602]

UConn blew Iowa State off the court last season and Crooks did not hurt them.

She scored 22 points, but UCONN still won by 33 points.

 

[jaydee602]

Monday's game between UCONN & Syracuse has been scheduled for 6PM EST on ESPN.

 

[VA Huskie]

Did Ashton blow off the handshake? I blinked.

No she didn’t, they hugged.

 

[AmeriConn]

 

[Bedford fan]

Welcome to Geno's magic show. That first half defense didn't just overwhelm Texas, I think it was a trapping exercise with abandon. Three fouls per quarter for Azzi and Arnold, three man traps, this was more than full court pressure. Some of it was new for this team, they must have spent a lot of time putting it together. And, the offense, half court and shooting fell apart. Last year's team excelled in the half court defense, this was new and it might give the opposition coaches something to think about. I don't think Geno wants to show very much in the first rounds, I would be surprised to see that 4th quarter zone against real competition. But, they will use these traps in certain situations. Hopefully he has saved some magic for his offense on Monday.

 

[jaydee602]

If UCONN beats Syracuse, they will play in the Sweet Sixteen at Fort Worth vs the winner of tomorrow's Maryland/ North Carolina game.
The Terps play the Tar Heels Sunday @ Noon on ESPN.

 

[maple]

Watching UCLA right now makes me feel a lot better about UConn’s game.

 

[maple]

We don't look as sharp as the other 1 seeds. Did South Carolina not play their bench at all? Should we still be playing players that won't be seeing the floor in the final four?

SCar didn’t pull the starters until the 4th quarter. UCLA struggling against Cal Baptist right now. So make of it what you will.

I disagree that we shouldn’t be playing bench players. You never know what will happen in the tournament and it’s good for every player to be prepared.

 

[cohenzone]

Underwhelming performance. Expected much better with the time off, and preparation for the tournament. Foul problems for Fudd and KK in the first half, 3 point shooting, and not much more than 20 minutes of really high quality basketball by the team. And you can't blame the performance on the "layoff". Gave up 38 points in the 2nd half. Other 1 and even 2 and some 3 seeds absolutely blew out other teams.

The 2nd quarter was great tho, and on the good side, Blanca seems to be back. Nice stat filling game by Sarah too. Great game by Ash. Solid game by Kayleigh. And for some good stretches, the defense was REALLY elite. But this team needs to be able to put together close to 35 minutes of great basketball to win the NC.

Survive and advance, but boy was it ugly for a lot of the game.

While I agree in general with you - I was at the game - i’m not sure how anyone can call that anything but a massacre. GA totally called the dogs off. Could have been 60 even with bad shooting.

 

[fomalhaut]

SCar didn’t pull the starters until the 4th quarter. UCLA struggling against Cal Baptist right now. So make of it what you will.
.

I think Texas has played as well as any of the 1 seeds so far: they had a big halftime lead and called the dogs off early, while South Carolina ran up the score in the second half. Not that you can usually tell much against 16 seeds. UCLA is pulling away in the 3rd quarter as I'm typing this, after a slow 1st half.

 

[NYFan]

I've seen a lot of comments about how UConn didn't "destroy" their opponent by as much as other top seeds destroyed their opponents. I saw an article about how South Carolina had the 6th biggest margin of victory today (69 points) in women's NCAA basketball tournament history.
No. 1 South Carolina posts one of the biggest blowouts in women's NCAA tournament history in win over No. 16 Southern
This was a year after they set a team record for point differential in a tournament game (60 points). What was interesting is how the article said how none of the winning teams in the five biggest margins of victory went on to win the national title! (UConn actually holds the record for the largest margin of victory while winning a national title).

So it's not necessarily "how badly you defeat your opponent" that counts...

 

[AzzisBraids]

Everyone was off at times today and they still won by a wide margin. That should be scary for the field. I won't say much more because I'd like move on to the Syracuse match-up.

 

[hoophuskee]

UCONN looks scary-good. They held the opposing team to 14 points at halftime. The only way the opposing team could do anything was when UCONN pulled both the press and their dogged man-to-man defense, - and 4 of the 5 starters were mostly out. UCONN's zone is not a core defense either. Probably did it so not to embarrass the other team to a degree, and to save themselves a bit for game 2.

UCONN's defense is just spectacular. We'll see eventually how it can impact the other top teams frm E8 onward.

Overall a very strong game.

 

[HuskyNan]

Lol

 

[HopJim]

I understand that some day your 3's do not fall but there is no excuse for missing 41% of your FREE throw.

Good point but at this stage of the season, unlikely to be able to coach up too much better free throw form. This will likely factor into Geno's substitution patterns should games get tight. Not too concerned since starters have come through this season when needed.

 

[HopJim]

Serah started out scoring and then was taken out. Maybe that affected her play after she came back in. Jana did not play long enough to make a difference.

While far from perfect, Serah's offense has greatly improved the past 10 games or so. Several games where she scored 5-7+ points in Q1, then got taken out for significant periods of time. When returned to the court, she often was playing with new lineup. While I hate to see players who are hot taken out, usually this means Blanca comes in and often performs well per yesterday's outstanding effort.

 

[my2cents]

I think I have posted this numerous times through the years that too many BYer's just don't understand.
Geno has absolutely NO interest in beating teams by 70+ points.
He doesn't press in the second halves, he takes his first line players out in the 3rd quarter , not to return.
His third line players play significant minutes in the 4th quarter, where they play a zone. (UConn never plays a zone)
So, all you people that try to make significant points about the team or game after Geno calls off his ladies, please don't.
You are hurting my brain.

 

[HuskyNan]

I think I have posted this numerous times through the years that too many BYer's just don't understand.
Geno has absolutely NO interest in beating teams by 70+ points.
He doesn't press in the second halves, he takes his first line players out in the 3rd quarter , not to return.
His third line players play significant minutes in the 4th quarter, where they play a zone. (UConn never plays a zone)
So, all you people that try to make significant points about the team or game after Geno calls off his ladies, please don't.
You are hurting my brain.

And I keep reminding people that teams only need to get a win to move on, even if it’s ugly or low scoring margin. Both of us are going to be ignored

 

[NycUcWbbFan]

So the reason why i feel this game was quite good is that it showed we have many scorers, who, when given the chance, succeed. Foul trouble will happen, and scorers will go cold. We have the players who can fill the gaps. I'm totally fine with this game. In a tight game, let's be real.. we're not playing zone, it's going to be full on in-you-face. Ash, K9 and Blanca showed we have few soft spots to try to exploit.

The Top 9 (with the handicapping on Azzi, KK and the cold shooting (it happens, but no shots were forced)) did well in an adhoc stress-test game:

• Check out the Per 40 +/- (MOV pace) for Winning Time Rotations &1, Pocket Bridge Rotations &1 and Top Bridge Rotations &1, in traditional and small ball rotations.
• The Per 40 +/- pace means the MOV could have been a lot worse — the starters only played 12 minutes.
• Geno and CD’s in-game choices were able to use the adversity to get Kayleigh, Allie, Blanca and Jana experience being the cavalry for their first NCAAT together.
• It was nice to have Caroline experience being in an NCAAT, injury-free, in her last go-around.
• &1 Rotation Stint Types explainer.

 

[huskeynut]

I think I have posted this numerous times through the years that too many BYer's just don't understand.
Geno has absolutely NO interest in beating teams by 70+ points.
He doesn't press in the second halves, he takes his first line players out in the 3rd quarter , not to return.
His third line players play significant minutes in the 4th quarter, where they play a zone. (UConn never plays a zone)
So, all you people that try to make significant points about the team or game after Geno calls off his ladies, please don't.
You are hurting my brain.

BINGO!!!!!!!

This should be known by all UConn fans. But we need to keep reminding them.

Thanks 2cents.